5 Beat-Building Must-Haves for Your Home Music Studio

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Engineer your tracks for total dance floor domination with this home studio gear.

1. Technics SL-1200GR Direct Drive Turntable

The 1200 turn­table is the machine that birthed hip hop and fueled EDM’s rise. This modern redo of the decades-old design has the ­bombproof construction and beefy motor that made the original famous, all optimized to reduce noise. Use it to sample an ­elusive drum break, or just to cue up some ­inspiration.

2. DJ TechTools Midi Fighter 64

The snappy, Pac-Man–worthy buttons on this MIDI controller can be programmed to trigger loops or tap out drum samples in Ableton Live or whatever supported audio app is your jam. Take it on stage too—the LED rings around the buttons can be set to spice up your performance with a custom light show.

3. Genelec The Ones 8331

Finnish company Genelec knows the cheat code for more accurate-­sounding compact studio monitors: concentric tweeter and midrange speakers and dual woofers hidden behind the baffles of each rumble-­abating, ­aluminum cabinet. Play your mix on these to hear every detail—and to reveal what needs fixing.

4. Roli Seaboard Block

Roli’s soft and squishy keyboard responds to taps, touches, glides, and slides, providing access to a nearly unlimited sonic vocabulary. The free Noise app wirelessly connects you to hundreds of tones, and the Seaboard pairs with the other modules in the Blocks family of touch-sensitive sound shapers.

5. Apogee One

Want to add some slinky wah-wah guitar or a silky vocal hook to your track? Plug any instrument, sampler, synth, or microphone into Apogee’s USB interface for Mac, and its analog-­to-digital converter captures the performance with depth and clarity. No mic? No problem—a voice-friendly condenser mic is built in.